Meet Sabrina Carmen | Singer-Songwriter, Voice-Over, Music Educator & Co-Owner Of Blue Box Music

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sabrina Carmen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sabrina, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I grew up in an artistic family, where creativity and entrepreneurship were encouraged. My dad always said if I pursued a career I loved, I would never work a day in my life, and from a young age I took that to heart. There have been seasons in my life where I have worked for others, but ultimately, I always knew I would work for myself. I’ve worked for myself as a singer, songwriter, and voice-over artist for many years, and now my husband and I also have our own music lesson studio, Blue Box Music. Opening Blue Box Music has enabled us to share our passion, knowledge, and experience with a new generation of aspiring creatives. It’s been a tremendous blessing.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Doing anything worthwhile in life is never easy. Whether you are a parent, a business owner, or a student ~ it takes hard work, dedication, and patience to keep at it. Pursuing a music career has been no different. I spent my early years training my voice, taking dance classes, acting classes, and piano lessons, and auditioning for all the local musical theatre productions my parents would drive me to. I was so blessed to have such encouraging parents. It was their love that kept me going. When my mom died when I was thirteen, it was one of the biggest challenges I had to face. My dad was incredible during this really rough time in our lives, and helped me stay on course with my musical passions. Songwriting became a very important artistic outlet for me and became my driving force.

Years of honing my skills led to some awesome opportunities, like writing songs for other artists with seasoned industry songwriting professionals, performing on Jimmy Kimmel Live with Youngblood Hawke & Thirty Seconds to Mars, recording vocals for the Thirty Seconds to Mars album, “LOVE LUST FAITH + DREAMS,” appearing in a Gap holiday commercial singing background vocals for Janelle Monáe, singing on The Late Late Show with James Corden, and landing original songs on various networks and streaming services including Netflix, NBC, Peacock, MTV, NFL, Roku, USA Network, Amazon, & Freevee. In addition, I was able to land a lot of commercial voice-over campaigns, for brands such as Universal Studios, Kaiser Permanente, Pizza Hut, SoCal Gas, The Container Store, Johnnie Walker & T-Mobile. It was also a blessing to marry someone with my same ambition and vision, and together, we’ve opened up our own music lesson studio, Blue Box Music.

Some lessons I’ve learned along the way: say yes to opportunities even if you don’t feel ready, practice so you are always performance-ready, be kind, loving, and support your peers, do your part and trust that God will take care of the rest.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my best friend was visiting, some things that would definitely have to be on the agenda would include: paddleboarding in Naples / Long Beach, beach + surf day in El Porto / Manhattan Beach, ice cream at Salt & Straw in Larchmont Village, brunch at Bottega Louie in DTLA, hiking in Griffith Park, sailing in Alamitos Bay, outdoor movie at the Forever Cemetary, catching a show at the Pantages Theatre, finding a way into the Magic Castle, and so much more!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Shoutout to my amazing husband and business partner Andrew Maldonado, for being my rock and my best friend. Shoutout to our beautiful daughter, Faye Vida, who has brought even more sunshine to our lives and inspires me to bring my A-game every single day.

Website: https://sabrinacarmen.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/iamsabrinacarmen

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamsabrinacarmen

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/sabrinacarmen

Other: Wanna work on your creative voice or hone your skills on an instrument? Check out our music lesson studio, Blue Box Music! https://blueboxmusicstudio.com/